"as applied to a Nation which has derived its principal prosperity from its commercial greatness, has been erroneously attributed, from time to time, to all the leading Revolutionists of France. To our astonishment we now find it applied exclusively to BONAPARTE. Than this nothing can be further from the fact. NAPOLEON was scarcely known at the time, he being merely an Officer of inferior rank, totally unconnected with politics. The occasion on which that splenetic, but at the same time, complimentary observation was made was that of the ever-memorable battle of the 1st of June. The oration delivered on that"
"are also cross-referenced. For example, on looking up Napoleon's quotation about Britain being a ""nation of shopkeepers"", one also finds Adam Smith, who said it first. Quotations about absolute power are cross-referenced to Lord Acton, and from him to William Pitt the Elder, who said something similar. The dictionary has been jokingly called the ""Oxford Dikker of Quotaggers"" using the Oxford ""-er"". The first edition in 1941 was compiled by a committee drawn from the staff of the OUP under the editorship of Alice Mary Smyth (later Alice Mary Hadfield). She recounts some of the details of choosing and processing"
"""The Wealth of Nations"" by Adam Smith, who first established the concept of the ""market economy"". At the same time industrialisation replaced the individual artisan, or group of artisans, with paid labourers and machine-based production. Commercial success increasingly dependent on maximising production while minimising cost. Therefore, the size of a company became increasingly important, and a number of European countries responded by enacting laws to regulate large companies which restricted trade. Following the French Revolution in 1789 the law of 14–17 June 1791 declared agreements by members of the same trade that fixed the price of an industry or labour"
"to ""the trading of the right honourable the present lord mayor, who is a merchant free of the Turkey, Italian, French, Muscovy, and was late governour of the East-Indy Company"". In another ""show"" a shepherd was introduced to typify the cloth trade, in which Abbot was still engaged, and subsequently an actor in the pageant, in the character of an Indian, addressed laudatory verses to the new lord mayor as the chief merchant of England, ""By whose commerce our nation hath been fam'd"". Abbot's mayoralty, which covered the greater part of the year 1639, was rendered somewhat eventful by the"
"bakers, grocers, sellers of dairy products and stall-holders, and the merchants (Dutch: ""koopman""), which described a new, emergent class of trader who dealt in goods or credit on a large scale. With the rise of a European merchant class, this distinction was necessary to separate the daily trade that the general population understood from the rising ranks of merchants who operated on a world stage and were seen as quite distant from everyday experience. In 18th century England, large industrial houses, such as Wedgewood, began mass-producing certain goods such as pottery and ceramics and needed a form of mass distribution"
"A Plan of the English Commerce ""A Plan of the English Commerce: Being a Compleat Prospect of the Trade of This Nation, As Well the Home Trade As the Foreign"" is perhaps chief among Daniel Defoe's tracts dealing with economic issues. In it he argues that the employment of labour on the ""working up of domestic produce"", particularly wool, would be the true path to prosperity. In the tract Defoe describes how the Tudors, Henry VII and Elizabeth I, developed England’s woollen manufacturing industry, by use of policies which would now be described as Defoe, Daniel (1728). ""A Plan of"
"to the real or imagined experiences of common British soldiers around the turn of the 20th century. The Five Nations The Five Nations is a collection of poems by English writer and poet Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936). It was first published in late 1903, both in the United Kingdom and in U.S.A. Some of the poems were new; some had been published before (notably ""Recessional"", of 1897), sometimes in different versions. In 1903, the United Kingdom consisted of four nations: England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. It was soon suggested that Kipling's ""five nations"" were the ""five free nations of Canada, Australia,"
"a growth in trade which followed the Act of Union with England of 1707 and expansion of the British Empire. Important modern attitudes towards the relationship between science and religion were developed by the philosopher/historian David Hume. Adam Smith developed and published ""The Wealth of Nations"", the first work in modern economics. He believed competition and private enterprise could increase the common good. The celebrated bard Robert Burns is still widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland. European cities like Paris, London, and Vienna grew into large metropolises in early modern times. France became the cultural center of the"
"men called lifters. In 1591, playwright Robert Greene published a pamphlet titled ""The Second Part of Cony Catching"", in which he described how three men could conspire to shoplift clothes and fabric from London merchants. When it was first documented, shoplifting was characterized as an underworld practice: shoplifters were also con artists, pickpockets, pimps, or prostitutes. In the late 17th century, London shopkeepers began to display goods in ways designed to attract shoppers, such as in window displays and glass cases. This made the goods more accessible for shoppers to handle and examine, which historians say led to an acceleration"
"held at the Harvard Business School's Baker Library. Samuel Slater Samuel Slater (June 9, 1768 – April 21, 1835) was an early English-American industrialist known as the ""Father of the American Industrial Revolution"" (a phrase coined by Andrew Jackson), ""Sam the Slate""(commonly used in Philadelphia after his evasion of the British military in the War of 1812), and the ""Father of the American Factory System"". In the UK, he was called ""Slater the Traitor"" because he brought British textile technology to America, modifying it for United States use. He memorized the designs of textile factory machinery as an apprentice to"
"in favor of buyers. The former case is known as a seller's market; the latter is known as a buyer's market or consumer sovereignty. In either case, the disadvantaged group is known as price-takers and the advantaged group known as price-setters. In his 1776 ""The Wealth of Nations"", Adam Smith described it as the exercise of allocating productive resources to their most highly valued uses and encouraging efficiency, an explanation that quickly found support among liberal economists opposing the monopolistic practices of mercantilism, the dominant economic philosophy of the time. Smith and other classical economists before Cournot were referring to"
"Samuel Slater Samuel Slater (June 9, 1768 – April 21, 1835) was an early English-American industrialist known as the ""Father of the American Industrial Revolution"" (a phrase coined by Andrew Jackson), ""Sam the Slate""(commonly used in Philadelphia after his evasion of the British military in the War of 1812), and the ""Father of the American Factory System"". In the UK, he was called ""Slater the Traitor"" because he brought British textile technology to America, modifying it for United States use. He memorized the designs of textile factory machinery as an apprentice to a pioneer in the British industry before migrating"
"that ""The Wealth of Nations"" was ""one of the great achievements in human intellectual history"". P. J. O'Rourke describes Smith as the ""founder of free market economics"". Other writers have argued that Smith's support for ""laissez-faire"" (which in French means leave alone) has been overstated. Herbert Stein wrote that the people who ""wear an Adam Smith necktie"" do it to ""make a statement of their devotion to the idea of free markets and limited government"", and that this misrepresents Smith's ideas. Stein writes that Smith ""was not pure or doctrinaire about this idea. He viewed government intervention in the market"
"Adam Smith Adam Smith ( 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish economist, philosopher and author as well as a moral philosopher, a pioneer of political economy and a key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. Smith wrote two classic works, ""The Theory of Moral Sentiments"" (1759) and ""An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations"" (1776). The latter, often abbreviated as ""The Wealth of Nations"", is considered his ""magnum opus"" and the first modern work of economics. Smith studied social philosophy at the University of Glasgow and at Balliol College, Oxford, where he was one"
"The Wealth of Nations An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, generally referred to by its shortened title The Wealth of Nations, is the ""magnum opus"" of the Scottish economist and moral philosopher Adam Smith. First published in 1776, the book offers one of the world's first collected descriptions of what builds nations' wealth, and is today a fundamental work in classical economics. By reflecting upon the economics at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the book touches upon such broad topics as the division of labour, productivity, and free markets. ""The Wealth of Nations"""
"sought the accumulated wealth preliminary to launching new industry, ""you had to turn to the class which had already monopolized the bulk of the means of production in England. The rich men alone could furnish you with those supplies"". According to Peter Barnes, author of ""Capitalism 3.0"", when Adam Smith wrote ""The Wealth of Nations"" in 1776, the dominant form of business was partnership, in which regional groups of co-workers ran co-owned businesses. From this perspective, many considered the corporate model—stock sold to strangers—inherently prone to fraud. While numerous scandals historically support this dim view of corporate policy, small partnerships"
"century, especially in the more populous cities. By the 17th century, permanent shops with more regular trading hours were beginning to supplant markets and fairs as the main retail outlet. Provincial shopkeepers were active in almost every English market town. These shopkeepers sold a very broad range of general merchandise, much like a contemporary general store. Large business houses involved in import and export often offered additional services including finance, bulk-breaking, sorting and risk-taking. In the 17th century, the public began to make mental distinctions between two types of trader; local traders (Dutch: ""meerseniers"") which referred to local merchants including"
"of Nations"" (1776) shortly after ""The Deserted Village"", political and economic discussion increasingly became the preserve not of poetry, but of a ""scientific"" version of political economy. In the United States, a different reading occurred—while the English Auburn may have been deserted, the new world offered opportunities for the recreation of Goldsmith's idyll. Early critics also questioned the validity of Goldsmith's argument about rural depopulation and decline. In 1770, for instance, Thomas Comber argued that the population of rural England was not decreasing, and that enclosure could increase farmers' demand for labourers. An early review in ""The Critical Review"" also"
"Classical economics Classical economics or classical political economy is a school of thought in economics that flourished, primarily in Britain, in the late 18th and early-to-mid 19th century. Its main thinkers are held to be Adam Smith, Jean-Baptiste Say, David Ricardo, Thomas Robert Malthus, and John Stuart Mill. These economists produced a theory of market economies as largely self-regulating systems, governed by natural laws of production and exchange (famously captured by Adam Smith's metaphor of the invisible hand). Adam Smith's ""The Wealth of Nations"" in 1776 is usually considered to mark the beginning of classical economics. The fundamental message in"
"such a large portion of British America, at the time Britain's most populous overseas possession, is seen by some historians as the event defining the transition between the ""first"" and ""second"" empires, in which Britain shifted its attention away from the Americas to Asia, the Pacific and later Africa. Adam Smith's ""Wealth of Nations"", published in 1776, had argued that colonies were redundant, and that free trade should replace the old mercantilist policies that had characterised the first period of colonial expansion, dating back to the protectionism of Spain and Portugal. The growth of trade between the newly independent United"
"with subsequent exploration leading to the rise of the Second British Empire (1783–1815). The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain in the late 1700s and new ideas emerged about free markets, such as Adam Smith's ""The Wealth of Nations"" (1776). Free trade became a central principle that Britain practiced by the 1840s. It played a key role in Britain's economic growth and . From the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 until World War I in 1914, the United Kingdom played the role of global hegemon (most powerful actor). Imposition of a ""British Peace"" on key maritime trade routes"
"Alfred Eckhard Zimmern Sir Alfred Eckhard Zimmern (1879–1957) was an English classical scholar and historian, and political scientist writing on international relations. His book ""The Third British Empire"" was among the first to apply the expression ""British Commonwealth"" to the British Empire. He is also credited with the phrase ""welfare state"", which was made popular a few years later by William Temple. Zimmern was born on 26 January 1879 in Surbiton, Surrey, UK. His father was a naturalised British citizen, born in Germany. The writers, translators and suffragettes Helen Zimmern and Alice Zimmern were his cousins. Alfred was brought up"
"Merchant Adventurers (Elgar) ""Merchant Adventurers"" is a poem written by Alfred Noyes, and set to music by the English composer Edward Elgar. It was one of the songs (also known as the """"Pageant of Empire"""") written to be performed in the ""Pageant of Empire"" at the British Empire Exhibition on 21 July 1924. The song refers to the merchant adventurers who set sail from England in ships, to make their living in adventurous overseas trade. There are two verses, each with a refrain """"...Glory, glory everlasting in the lordship of the sea"""" which may be sung by a chorus (SATB)"
"began with the publication of Adam Smith's ""The Wealth of Nations"" in 1776. The most significant contribution of the physiocrats was their emphasis on productive work as the source of national wealth. This is in contrast to earlier schools, in particular mercantilism, which often focused on the ruler's wealth, accumulation of gold, or the balance of trade. Whereas the mercantilist school of economics said that value in the products of society was created at the point of sale, by the seller exchanging his products for more money than the products had ""previously"" been worth, the physiocratic school of economics was"
"the Pacific and later Africa. Adam Smith's ""Wealth of Nations"", published in 1776, had argued that colonies were redundant, and that free trade should replace the old mercantilist policies that had characterised the first period of colonial expansion, dating back to the protectionism of Spain and Portugal. The growth of trade between the newly independent United States and Britain after 1783 confirmed Smith's view that political control was not necessary for economic success. During its 1st century of operation, the focus of the British East India Company had been trade, not the building of an empire in India. Company interests"
"The Five Nations The Five Nations is a collection of poems by English writer and poet Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936). It was first published in late 1903, both in the United Kingdom and in U.S.A. Some of the poems were new; some had been published before (notably ""Recessional"", of 1897), sometimes in different versions. In 1903, the United Kingdom consisted of four nations: England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. It was soon suggested that Kipling's ""five nations"" were the ""five free nations of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa [i.e. Cape Colony], and 'the islands of the sea' [i.e. the British Isles]"""
"nations of Europe."" French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau is credited with coining the usage, when in March 1919 he urged the newly independent border states (also called ""limitrophe states"") that had seceded from the Russian Empire and its successor the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to form a defensive union and thus quarantine the spread of communism to Western Europe; he called such an alliance a ""cordon sanitaire."" This is still probably the most famous use of the phrase, though it is sometimes used more generally to describe a set of buffer states that form a barrier against a larger,"
"economists. The repeal of the Corn Laws by Robert Peel symbolized the emergence of free trade as an alternative system. Most of the European economists who wrote between 1500 and 1750 are today generally considered mercantilists; this term was initially used solely by critics, such as Mirabeau and Smith, but was quickly adopted by historians. Originally the standard English term was ""mercantile system"". The word ""mercantilism"" was introduced into English from German in the early 19th century. The bulk of what is commonly called ""mercantilist literature"" appeared in the 1620s in Great Britain. Smith saw the English merchant Thomas Mun"
"was, as the pamphlet repeatedly exhorted the burghers of the Netherlands to arm themselves and take matters into their own hands. As was usual at the time, the pamphlet contained a romanticized overview of Dutch history, going back to the mythical ancestors of the Dutch people, the ""Bataven"", and taking the Middle Ages and the early history of the Republic in stride. But the perspective was decidedly anti-stadtholderian, and emphasized that the people are ""the true proprietors, the lords and masters of the country"", not the nobles and ""regenten"". The author likens the country to a great company, like the"
"of the Low Countries all involved, though not exclusively, with the English wool trade. The importance of wool to the English economy can be shown by the fact that since the 14th Century, the presiding officer of the House of Lords has sat on the ""Woolsack"", a chair stuffed with wool. Wool-staplers could acquire significant wealth, such as Richard Chandler of Gloucester who built Winston Hall in 1750. The term wool-stapler fell out of use during the 20th century. Wool-stapler A wool-stapler is a dealer in wool. The wool-stapler buys wool from the producer, sorts and grades it, and sells"
"as a disparaging term for British merchants or administrators who, having made a fortune in India, returned to Britain and aspired to be recognised as having the higher social status that their new wealth would enable them to maintain. Jos Sedley in Thackeray's ""Vanity Fair"" is probably the best known example in fiction. From this specific usage it came to be sometimes used for ostentatiously rich businesspeople in general. It can also be used metaphorically for people who have a grandiose sense of their own importance, as in the famous alliterative dismissal of the news media as """"nattering nabobs of"
"gain by higher prices for English wares abroad. The first school to completely reject mercantilism was the physiocrats, who developed their theories in France. Their theories also had several important problems, and the replacement of mercantilism did not come until Adam Smith published ""The Wealth of Nations"" in 1776. This book outlines the basics of what is today known as classical economics. Smith spent a considerable portion of the book rebutting the arguments of the mercantilists, though often these are simplified or exaggerated versions of mercantilist thought. Scholars are also divided over the cause of mercantilism's end. Those who believe"
"protégés David Hume (1711–76), who became a major figure in the sceptical philosophical and empiricist traditions of philosophy, and Adam Smith (1723–90), whose ""The Wealth of Nations"", (1776) is considered to be the first work of modern economics. Hugh Blair (1718–1800) was a minister of the Church of Scotland and held the Chair of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres at the University of Edinburgh. He produced an edition of the works of Shakespeare and is best known for ""Sermons"" (1777-1801), Lectures on Rhetoric and ""Belles Lettres"" (1783). The focus of the Scottish Enlightenment ranged from intellectual and economic matters to the"